The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1887-06-18
Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
pEL1cAoY OF SMELL

DELICACY OF SMELL.
The sense of smell has been found by two Eng
lish observers, Messrs. Nichols and Bailey, TO
be usually more acute in males than In females
and in some individuals proved so keen as 10 oe.
tect one part of prussc acid in 2,OOOOUO parts OF
water. The average limit of perception for vari-
ous substances was shown to be as follows;-
Cloves: males, 1 in Ss,l2s females, L IN oO,-
Ss7' Nitric Of amyl: males, in 9S3,370 fe-
males. /, in 81 $3.50. Extract of garlic: males,
in 81. 927: females, / in Al, 900. Bromine: males,
/ in 49, 254; females, in 16 244. Prussic acid !:
males, 1 in 10000; females, l in $4,000.
THE SEA TELEPHONE.
Prof Trowbridge's plan OF submarine telephony,
in which speech was to be transmitted between YES
sells at sea without the aid of any connecting wire,
has been abandoned as impracticable as the sys-
tnglYfrnaas No Moro PbifSlsgh 81 "goOd results
In this system the telephone signals by long and
short explosive sounds instead of by spoken words,
and communications have been successfully ex-
changed through the water between vessels from
three to four miles apart, with the prospect that
the working limit may be increased with improve
ment in the apparatus.
WHERE LIGHTNING STRIKES
From statistics collected in parts of the German
Empire, G.. Hellmann finds that the danger from
lightning, though generally increasing, is dimin-
ishne in certain districts, the risk becoming less
the closely houses are clustered. The charac-
ter of the soil has great influence. Letting rep
resent the danger from lightning ON calcareous
ground, will give it upon marty, upon sandy,
and % upon clayey SOIL 1t is curious fact not
not vet explained, that oaks are struck much more
frequently than other trees so that if the danger
for beeches bell that for pines is TO- and for oaks
81.
GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES.
The Orinoco is being explored by French
traveller, M. Chaffanjon, who has already discov-
cred numerous errors in existing maps, and has
Tha g
Fish Commission is about to investigate the fish
bearing properties of the Kin Sawa, or Black
Stream Of Japan, which, crossing the Pacific in
high latitude, is said to modify the temperature
and climate Of Alaska and the Aleutian Archipel-
ago in much the same manner as the British ell
mate is modified blythe Gulf Stream. Prof Neu-
mayer, or Hamburg, anticipates that Antarctic
explorations, whose great Importance he urges,
will show that the south pole was centre OF dis
persion of animals and plants for the southern
hemisphere, as the north pole is believed to have
been for the northern.
TWO NEW MEDICINES
Saol, made by heating salicylc and carbolic
acids with dehydrating agent, is being intro
duced to take the place of saicylic acid as pow
erful combatant of rheumatism, because 1t does
not disturb the stomach does salicylic acid
Another new medicine, antifebrin-called by
chemists acetanilide-is claimed to be better than
quinine for reducing fever, and is prepared by
heating aniline with acetic acid.
SCIENCE VS.. SUPERSTITION.
The French Academy of Sciences has received
a novel work, by Messrs. Charcot and Richet,
giving for scientific study collection OF represen-
tations of persons who have been possessed by
the devil" Various old masters of art are found
to have faithfully depicted these subjects in ivores
enamels, tapestries, engravings, paintings and
the like, their figures accurately reproducing the
traits of the now wel-understood states ofepiepsy
and other nervous affections.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Though much less than in the ocean, the tides
in the Mediterranean quite noticeable. Along
the coast near the Maritime Alps they range from
4 to 10 inches. At Gibralter, however, and in the
Gulf of Gabes, they rise to from 60 to so inches !;
at Trieste to nearly 80 inches and at Venice, to
about 20 inches.
An apparatus of iron and glass, in which
pressure of 1000 atmosphere can be developed
for the purpose of studying the influence of great
pressure on animal life, has been exhibited to BIZ
ologists in France. With it deep sea animals can
be observed under their natural compression.
In paper read before the London Anthropolo-
gical Institute, Prof. Ferrier has considered the
function of different parts of the brain so far as at
present settled. He concludes that not enough is
known to serve as the pasis of scientific phrenol-
ogy, though there are reasons for believing that
great progress may yet be made.
French chemist has noticed that considerable
errors in delicate weighings may result from an
electrified state of the glass surrounding the
balance.
The autographometer is an instrument lately
devised in Paris for automatically recording the
topography and difference of level of all places
over which it passes. 1t is carried about on
light vehicle, and has only to be dragged over
the ground of which plan is desired.
The details of astronomical work involve calcul-
ations quite appalling to the non-mathematical.
Measurements of 1,O19 Photographic plates of the
transit of Venus in 1882 have been made at the
French Institute with array of figures covering
no less that 1900 sheets of paper.
At the close of 1886 the American Association
for the Advancement of Science, according to the
report of the Permanent Secretary, had 1885 NOM
bers. Of these 631, being specially engaged in
scientific work, have been elected to the rank of
fellows,